The National tribune., 1887-10-06
SUNDAY MEDITATION.
Practical Duties Taught by n Study OF the Inter-
national Sunday-sehool Lesson Appointed for
Oct. l6. st. Matt, 9:1-S.

national sunday ay-sehool Lesson Appointed for
Oct. l6. st. Matt, 9:1-S.
Zone reading these notes should first carefully
study the paragraph from the Holy Scriptures as
| indicated above.l
| SUBJECT: CURE OF THE MAN WITH PALSY,
BROUGHT BY Four OF HIS FRIENDS TO
CHRIST.
Before proceeding, read st. Mark, 2:1-12,
and St. Luke, 5: 1926. The notes below sup
pose the student familiar with these re-
ports All the accounts were written at about
| the same time-to wit SO A. d. SITS. Matt
aud Mark probably wrote at Rome and st.
Luke at Achaia, in Greece. This is Christ's
seventh specific miracle. 1t is the first case Of
| palsy. He cured three other cases of this dis
ease. (al Many hold the disease of the man at
! Bethesda was palsy. (See st. John. 5:5.) (1
| Then there is the case of the man with a with
cred hand cured at Capernaum. (St. Matt,
II: 10) (c) The Centurions son. (St. Matt,
8:6.l
This miracle was performed in the month of
| March, A. ID. 81, $50 years ago, in the 3lst
year of Christ's life and the first of his minis
try. 1t took place in Capernaum. in the court
OF the house of st. Peter. Eastern houses were
made with Hat roofs In the center of the
roof there was large square aperture left,
which went down through all the stories of the
house. From the bottom Of this aperture, per-
| sons could look up through the center (court)
of the house to the sky. At the base there was
a solid pavement. Sometimes from the center
of this paved floor fountain poured forth its
waters. Around the pavement, next the walls,
were flowers, shrubs, ETC., in vases or flower
/ pots. Persons were prevented from falling
through this aperture in the roof to the pave
\ meat below by a railing called q balcony,
| breastwork or parapet. All the rooms of the
house opened into the court. Indeed, the
house was square, built around this opening in
the middle There was but one door from the
/ front. The first room entered reached to the
! court, and WIS called q porch. From this
| porch stairs led to the roof. Generally the
houses were only one story high. In a city
where the houses were crowded together. the
roofs of the houses joined. so persons could go
q long continuous distance ON house-tops. Over
| the aperture in the roof an awning was at
times drawn to protect from the sun. The
roof was made of burnt clay formed into slabs
/ or tiles. So the aperture in the roof could be
styled an opening in the tiles. (See st. Lu.,
B: 49, They let the man down through the
! aperture in the tiled roof To uncover a roof
was to remove the awning over the central
| opening in the roof. The meaning of "it," in
/ st. Mark, 9 H. may refer to the railing around
the central opening OF the roof It would be
| difficult to lift the man up over the parapet.
| To make it easier, IL may have been necessary
to break little opening through the balus-
trade. To get the man upon the roof, they
may have gone into the porch of n neighbor-
| ing house. have assembled to its roof and then
have passed along over the intermediate roofs
! till they reached the house where Christ
was. The account seems to teach that
! the porch of the house OF st. Peter war very
| crowded (St. Mark. 2: p group with sick
man could not get through such an assemblage
Into the midst" st. Luke. 81: 10, means into
the middle. .. e., into the middle Of the house,
| viz, through the central opening. Perhaps
| they tied ropes to the four corners of the mat
or quilt on which they carried the sick nan,
| and so let him down. DIR. Thomson, in The
| Land and the Book, thinks the ceiling was so
low that it would be possible TO reach the pave
ment from the roof by simply holding firmly
on the four corners of the quilt and reaching
| down far as they could.
| The patient is quite unknown to US. In the
| account of st. Matt, Verse 3 and that of St.
Mark, Verse 8, Christ calls him "son." (tecknOn
| IN Creek st. Luke's account, Verse 20, has
man" We would suppose him an adult from
| the fact IL required four men to carry him.
Aud yet if the disease were acute. even a child
| could be carried more comfortably on a quilt
| held by the four corners. We may infer youth
! fulneSs from the fact Christ called him son or
child, he himself tChrist) being only about 30
years OF age. We infer he was far gone in
sickness, unable to aid himself at ALL he
was sinner. lSt. Mark. 2:5.) He was a resi-
dent OF Capernaum. He must have had some
winning qualities about him to have gained
four such devoted friends.
The disease was palsy. St. Matt, o: s. seems
to imply there WAS some relation between his
| sore disease and his character. Sin was the
cause. Palsy is the loss Of control over ones
motions: muscular relaxation; want of sonsa-
tiOn in the parts of the body. Catalepsy is a
contraction of the muscles, dangerous aud pain
| full.
Let us see the cure
l. The Physician. This was Christ.
2. The prescription. This was q mere CON-
mand from Christ. The condition OF the effect
| iveDess of the cure seems to have been faith,
especially the faith OF the sick mans four
! friends. It is not unlikely the faith Of the
patient also played part.
j. The nature of the cure. a. It was imme-
diate. (St. Mark, 2: H. b. 1t was complete.
| (Idem.) c. Ii was public (St. Matt, Q: 8; st.
Luke, III. Compare Acts, 90 26.) d. 1t was
permanent.
Now we notice the effects.
l. On the cared man. Action. (St. Matt 9:7.
| He went home. (St. Mark 2: IL, l2.) He gIori-
| fled God. (St. Luke, 5:25.)
2 On the crowd. They marveled. (St. Matt,
9:S. They were amazed. (St. Mark 2: II J
Filled with fear. (St. Luke, 5: 26j Glorified
God. (St. Matt, 9:S.)
B. On Pharisees and Scribes They were
probably filed with envy and hatred
4. On us. We have through this miracle
/
in Christ's willingness and ability to help
| increased trust in Christianity.
The case of the bearers Of the sick man nicely
illustrates the utility of studying all four Cos
pels. From st. Matthew's account we could
. not tell the number, neither can We from the re-
port of st. Luke. In st. Matthew's Gospel we
have only the pronoun "they" Verse 2.) st.
Luke SAYS, men brought him" Verse 49,
But st. Mark states the sick man "was borne
of four" ST. John makes no alIusou to the
lesson. SITS. Matthew, Mark and Luke all refer
to the faith of those who bore the paIsied man
to Christ. tSee st. Matthew's account, Verse
2: st. Marks Verse s. and st. Luke's Verse &c. J
| The matter of faith was evidently considered
TO be very important; so much so every re-
porter referred to it, The four bearers were
evidently very eager for the mans cure They
sought means to bring him to Christ left no
stone unturned-overcame obstacle after OBJ
stacle-pushed on regardless of ridcule and
resistance They did not easily give up.
Find" in Verse 10 of st. Luke's account, cor
responds with sought" in Verse Is. Then,
having sought thus far unsuccesssully, they
carry their burden up upon the house-top.
This was laborious, fatiguing. Then comes
another obstacle. covered roof, spread over
the court and q balustrade between them and
the opening. But now they were quite above
Christ. Carefully, and evidently laboriously
and concertedly, they let down before the very
face of Christ the poor sick man. This is all
We know about these four men. We cannot
determine with certainty whether the idea OF
the man being taken to Christ originated with
them-how they met the sick man, whether
at said mans house or not, whether he sent foi
/ ham, taAf uhAth harr -